I am having a crazy week of new bike aquisitions to make up for my pre-move selloff. A Peugeot, a Lejeune, a Jim Redcay and a Mclean Fonvielle.
The Peugeot was thrown out on the street in Ann Arbor last weekend. It is the U08 type frame but post CPSC in date and rather competently equipped. Nice, never left the garage, shape. It has a Stronglight TS three arm alloy crank, Lyotard pedals, Simplex metal LJ type derailleurs, Atax stem, Phillippe engraved bars, Mafac Racer brakes with full hoods and adjusters, normandy hubs, Rigida alloy rims and the original Michelin tires. This bike surprised me because it could have competed with the Japanese mid level bikes of the day in equipment and probably ride better. Anyone know what the model is?
As I discussed a while back the Lejeune is an old racing bike of mine that Chris Beyer and his friend Martin found. It is just great to get back a collectible bike with memories. This is a very strange Lejeune. It is in the original paint, now tatty, no decals ever, blue rather than red, has Columbus tubing rather than Reynolds and a strange component mix. In my experience metric Columbus tubing is rare indeed and the trivia of the day is that Columbus did not make a metric steerer so the bike cannot be "Columbus throughout" although it has the French language tube and fork stickers. The story on it is that when I worked for Bicycle Renaissance in NYC any kind of crazy bike could show up because they had a wholesale operation for cheaper bikes and the owner would swap for other stores better quality inventory that wasn't moving.
I had crashed my Redcay in the Tour of Martha's Vineyard and needed a temporary racing bike. So these Lejeunes showed up, literally in a plain brown box. Components included Cinelli bar, stem and saddle, steel post, TA pro cranks, Lyotard pedals, Campagnolo Tipo hubs, SC Arc En Ciel rims, Dordonge (SP) sew ups, Regina freewheel and chain, Simplex plastic derailleurs, Mafac Racer brakes. Peculiar because of the Italian-French mix and attention to cost in some places and quality in others. Very raceable. Light and stiff. $180 wholesale new.
Because the bike had the long flat type Lyotard pedals, medium BB height and I was not familiar with it I did a spectacular pedal strike in the Tour of Harlem where I flipped 270 degrees in front of a crowd of at least 5000. My Redcay could probably corner 10 degrees more than the Lejeune between the pedals and the BB height. So I sold it when I got the Redcay fixed. Fun to get it back although it is a little small. The strike still shows on the left pedal but surpringly never bent the axle. Some parts have disappeared but I have already located alternatives and eventually it will get new red paint and for the first time proper decals.
I bought the Redcay day touring bike from the same Martin who located the Lejeune. He is a true bikehound. This is my third Redcay, the first was built in 10 days for $125 and ultimately stolen, the second was the one above, shown in the Cirque pictures from this year and this last one is described in the latest website classifieds. It is literally like new with great silver metallic Imron paint. Martin said it is from 1982 which makes it a very late Redcay. It has an Avocet crank BB and pedals so I'll put an Avocet saddle and eventually a seatpost on it. Did they make hubs? I had never seen the pedals before. Pleasant surprises were Pino Moroni skewars and a titanium Huret Duopar. This bike is a whisker big for me but rides like a dream.
This weekend I am going to a pawn shop in Norfolk VA to pick up a Mclean touring bike. This bike was auctioned on Ebay but did not make reserve. It has been subjected to a "custom" tricolor fade paint job and a very indifferent component mix. I probably paid too much for this but I had to respond to the listmasters plea for a rescuer and do penance for sellin my Mclean a number of years ago.
Joe Bender-Zanoni Sunny view of Central Park from Rockefeller Center, pensive view the other way